RAPID: Investigating Challenges to Matriculation and Completion for Underrepresented STEM Graduate Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

RAPID：调查 COVID-19 大流行期间代表性不足的 STEM 研究生入学和完成学业的挑战

• 批准号: 2037360
• 负责人: Suzanne Ortega
• 金额: $ 19.75万
• 依托单位: Council of Graduate Schools
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-15 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2037360&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Investigating; Challenges; Matriculation; Completion; RAPID; Investigating; Challenges; Matriculation; Completion

This RAPID project aims to empirically examine obstacles to the matriculation, persistence, and completion of underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM graduate programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The underlying assumptions of the project are that URMs may experience greater economic hardship and erosion in motivation to complete a graduate degree during crises. To address this problem, the Council of Graduate Schools will collaborate with the Council for Opportunity in Education and the Council of Historically Black Graduate Schools to collect and analyze data to document the critical decision points for URM students and establish baseline information about their graduate school aspirations and attitudes toward completion during the pandemic. The project will produce results that can inform graduate student advising and support structures to address the current challenges and guide interventions to broaden participation in STEM graduate education.The investigators will investigate four research questions: (1) What are the obstacles to the matriculation of underrepresented graduate students in the Fall 2020? (2) What are the obstacles to the retention of underrepresented students currently enrolled in STEM graduate programs? (3) What are the challenges for sustaining graduate school aspirations among URM rising college seniors following the COVID-19 pandemic? and (4) In an environment where experiential learning experiences have been disrupted by the pandemic, what strategies are being used to prepare URMs for graduate school success? Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected from undergraduate pipeline program directors, graduate deans, and other key stakeholders through surveys and focus groups. Data will be analyzed using both simple descriptive and multivariate regression techniques, and the results will be shared broadly with the graduate education community. This project is funded by the Building Capacity in STEM Education Research competition of the EHR Core Research program. ECR supports fundamental STEM education research that addresses issues relevant to STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM professional workforce development,This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个快速的项目旨在凭经验研究在COVID-19-19大流行期间，在STEM研究生计划中代表性不足的少数群体（URM）学生的入学，持久性和完成的障碍。该项目的基本假设是，URM可能会在危机期间完成研究生学位的动机方面遭受更大的经济困难和侵蚀。为了解决这个问题，研究生院理事会将与教育机会和历史悠久的黑人研究生院委员会合作，以收集和分析数据，以记录URM学生的关键决策点，并建立有关其研究生院志向和对大流行期间完成的态度的基线信息。该项目将产生结果，可以为研究生提供咨询和支持结构，以应对当前的挑战和指导干预措施，以扩大对STEM研究生教育的参与。研究人员将调查四个研究问题：（1）在2020年秋季秋季毕业生中占代表性不足的研究生的入学障碍是什么？ （2）保留当前参加STEM研究生课程的代表性不足的学生的障碍是什么？ （3）在COVID-19大流行期间，在URM崛起的大学生中维持研究生院愿望的挑战是什么？ （4）在一个大流行破坏了体验式学习经历的环境中，正在使用哪些策略为研究生院的成功做准备？ 定量数据和定性数据将从本科管道计划主管，研究生院长和其他主要利益相关者通过调查和焦点小组收集。 数据将使用简单的描述性和多元回归技术进行分析，结果将与研究生教育社区广泛共享。 该项目由EHR核心研究计划的STEM教育研究竞赛的建筑能力资助。 ECR支持基本的STEM教育研究，该研究解决了与STEM学习和学习环境相关的问题，扩大了STEM的参与以及STEM专业劳动力发展，该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛影响的评估来通过评估来支持的。